


Impromptu

by shandyall



Series: The Symphony Verse [7]
Category: Glee
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-17 00:58:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3509228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shandyall/pseuds/shandyall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of Symphony Verse one shots ranging from the boys' early relationship through their later years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I never expected to revisit this verse but as Glee draws to a close I guess I'm feeling nostalgic. All of these stories were loosely inspired by the song The Gambler by Fun. Thanks to Alianne for the beta!

June, 2040 (Kurt and Blaine are 45, Addie is 15, Declan is 13)

~~~~~

They all try to get together as often as possible but as people move away and the kids get older, it becomes harder and harder. 

Everything just happened to line up and fall into place for this one perfect day. Maybe it’s because it’s finally summer, or maybe it’s because everyone was feeling extra motivated since DiDi and Ben are in town from the west coast.

Whatever the reason, Blaine can’t stop smiling. He hasn’t been surrounded by this many friends in years. Not all at the same time at least.

Kurt flits around checking drinks and making sure the kids are behaving while Blaine grills for a good portion of the afternoon. Addie comes over at one point to keep him company.

“DiDi asked if I want to go to California to see her this summer,” she says.

“Do you wah-want to go?” Blaine asks, squinting over at her through the smoke. The deal is, he and Kurt try not to pressure Addie about DiDi and vice versa. It’s too hard to make choices for other people, but when DiDi wants Addie to visit they do try to encourage their daughter.

“Of course!” Addie says. “So I'm allowed to go?"

“You know it.”

“Awesome, I’m totally getting this pierced,” Addie says, pointing at her tragus.

“You totally are not,” Blaine deadpans.

“I don’t know that you can stop me.”

“There’s no way Dum Dum will let you dah-do that.”

“Oh he will,” Addie says confidently. 

“Have you considered how you’ll wear earbuds when you get it p-p-pierced?”

Addie’s expression slides from gleeful to scared. “I have not. You can’t wear earbuds?”

“I dah-don’t know, it just sssss-seems like the kind of thing that would irritate it," Blaine says, shrugging.

She rubs her ear. “I will take that information into consideration,” she says.

“You do that,” Blaine replies.

As afternoon slips into evening, the adults congregate on the deck while the kids start up a massive game of Manhunt that runs throughout the neighborhood. But the grown ups are rowdy enough that they barely notice.

“Remember that night,” Matt starts with a sly grin over at Blaine. 

“This isn’t going to, to, to end well for me,” Blaine says from where he’s sitting on Kurt’s lap. “I can already tell.”

“That night that the guy hit on Blaine at the coffee shop?” Matt concludes.

“I-I-I can’t believe you brought that up. I thought we didn’t talk about that.” Blaine puts his face in his hands.

“We can talk about that,” Kurt says sitting up straighter. "We should talk about that. I would like to know more about it, in fact."

DiDi looks confused. “Was I there? Why I don’t remember this?”

“We weren’t there,” Julia says, patting her knee. “We weren’t part of the group yet.”

“There was a group before us?” DiDi asks, shaking her head.

“You’re not going to tell it right,” Rachel says, silencing Matt before he even gets to say another word.

“For fuck’s sake, how you people remember all this shit?” Puck asks.

Rachel sighs and rolls her eyes. “It was March. And not too cold, and open mic night.”

“Open mic night,” Blaine says dreamily. “I mmmm-miss open mic night.”

“You and Matt did open mic night like last year,” Kurt says.

“Not the same," Matt says.

“And this guy, out of nowhere starts flirting with Blaine,” Rachel continues. “So we all notice and no one says anything until we were back at the apartment.”

“I miss that apartment,” Kurt says.

“But when we mentioned it to Blaine and he was shocked.”

“We were all pretty shocked,” Matt says.

“I always felt kind of bad about it,” Tina says.

“What part?” Rachel asks.

“How shocked we all were that Blaine got hit on. Like we were saying that he wasn’t the kind of person who would get hit on.”

Blaine squints his eyes. “But, but, but I wasn’t the kind of pah-person who ever got hit on.”

“But we shouldn’t have been so shocked.”

“Buh-buh-ut I was shocked,” Blaine insists.

“Oh, stop fighting me on this.”

“No,” Blaine says, shaking his head. Everyone laughs because even in middle age Blaine isn’t exactly what you would call argumentative. “I’m ssss-serious! It was so unexpected! I didn’t even know it happened! If you guys hadn’t bah-bah-rought it up I, I, I would have never rrrr-realized.”

“You were so oblivious,” Kurt says.

Rachel turns to Puck. “Remember the first time you met Blaine?”

Puck squints. “No, I don’t. I don’t remember half the stuff you think I should remember.”

“You yelled at me,” Blaine says.

“I yelled at you?”

“To be fair, you were def, def, d-defending Kurt’s honor.”

“I remember the first time I met Blaine,” Didi says. “I mean, the first time I really met him. Not just seeing him from afar, or stalking him, or whatever.”

“You stalked Blaine?” Tina asked.

“Not on purpose or anything. He was just really interesting.”

“He is really interesting!” Tina says.

“But I totally wanted to marry him,” DiDi sys.

“I wanted to marry him the first time I met him too!” Matt says, putting his hand up to high five DiDi.

“Blaine, Blaine, Blaine. Who cares about that guy? Why are we, we, we always talking about him?” Blaine asks, rolling his eyes and leaning back on Kurt with his arms folded.

“I mean, really, in some ways, this group wouldn’t exist without you,” Julia says, leaning closer to Matt. “Like parts of it would, but not this particular configuration.”

They all look around at each other, thinking of the truth behind that statement. 

“Those kids probably wouldn’t exist either,” Tina says, looking out over them. “I mean, mine would, you had nothing to do with me and James. But the rest of them…”

“Declan wah-would exist. I had nothing to do with his birth,” Blaine argues, watching him run across the yard, yelling something and pointing at Addie. Addie crosses her arms and yells right back.

“I know our kids wouldn't exist,” Julia says, rubbing Matt’s knee. “Like how would I have ever met Matt without you?”

“That’s an awful lot of r-r-r-responsibility guys,” Blaine says after a long moment.

“It’s kind of the truth though, poop,” Kurt says.

“I re-refuse to acknowledge this sssss-sentiment and would like to sah-sah-tate for the record that you all would have found each other wah-without me.”

“False,” Matt says.

“So false,” Julia says.

“Yup,” Rachel agrees. She nudges Puck with her elbow.

“Huh?” he says. “I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about. I want to go play Manhunt with the kids.”

“I like that idea,” Blaine says.

Everyone decides to join the game.


	2. Chapter 2

October, 2014 (Kurt is 21, Blaine is 20)

~~~~~

Kurt: What are you doing tonight?

Blaine: What I do every night  
Blaine: Try to take over the world

Kurt: As fun as that sounds  
Kurt: would you be interested in going to a party?

Blaine: Um.

Kurt: And before you say no  
Kurt: Or get nervous  
Kurt: You should know that it’s being thrown by one of Rachel’s friends

Blaine: That’s not helping

Kurt: Would you just listen?

Blaine: Fine.

Kurt: This guy has a lot of parties  
Kurt: And they’re always very very loud  
Kurt: In a basement in Brooklyn  
Kurt: And no one will even be able to hear you speak

Blaine: Hmm

Kurt: And Matt can come.

Blaine: You had me at “very very loud”

Kurt: Awesome.  
Kurt: It’ll be fun.  
Kurt: Also they make this crazy punch

Blaine: Um, so what should I wear? 

Kurt: Resisting. Urge. To. Call. You. Adorable.

Blaine: No but seriously.  
Blaine: What are you wearing?

Kurt: I don’t know.  
Kurt: I’ll text you when I figure it out.  
Kurt: But I would say no one’s really going to be paying attention to what you’re wearing.

Blaine: Good answer.

Kurt: Except for me.  
Kurt: So you should wear jeans that make your butt look good.

Blaine: (blushing font)  
Blaine: Talk to you later!

\-----

Blaine comes out the door of his building at the same time Kurt walks up the street.

“Hey,” Kurt says when he sees him.

“Hi,” Blaine says with a little smile. He leans in to kiss Kurt’s cheek. Their relationship is still so new, but he wants to touch him. Like all the time.

“Where’s Matt?”

“He’s going out with some other people from our dorm,” Blaine says.

“So just me and you?” 

Blaine nods, hoping that Kurt can’t actually HEAR how hard is heart is pounding. Because that would be way more embarrassing than anything Blaine could imagine. Possibly even more embarrassing than what happened the other day when that little girl called Blaine the r-word and Kurt got so mad.

They haven’t talked about the incident since it happened and Blaine isn’t sure if he should bring it up again or just leave it in the past. They also haven’t seen each other since then, which isn’t rare given their busy schedules and the fact that it only happened on Monday and today is Friday. But Blaine might have, sort of been given Kurt a little space that week, just in case he was tired of Blaine.

On the walk to the subway they find each other’s hands about halfway there. Blaine feels like he has too many questions for being this quiet, but he doesn’t know how to ask them.

Kurt notices the way Blaine keeps opening his mouth and changing expressions, so he decides to fill the void.

“So this is one of Rachel’s friends from class. He’s sort of old, and kind of weird, and pretty much exactly what you would expect from her.”

Blaine nods and smiles. That was definitely one of the questions he wanted to ask.

“We used to go to these parties all the time last year, but we just haven’t recently.”

“Is, um, R-r-r, Ray-Rachel mmmm-meeting us there?”

“Yeah, she has work until ten, but then she’ll be coming.”

“We could have wah-wah-waited. For her.”

“You don’t understand how long it takes Rachel to get ready. She’ll probably show up at midnight.”

Blaine squeezes Kurt’s hand tighter as they walk down into the subway, not wanting to lose him. Particularly since he has no clue where they’re going exactly.

There’s nowhere to sit once they get on, so they stand close together, holding the same pole and wind up playing a game that involves one of them bumping into the other every time the train lurches. They find it hilarious, but the people around them not so much.

After one too many dirty looks, Blaine shifts over to cuddle up to Kurt.

“We should stop,” he mumbles.

Kurt rolls his eyes and changes the subject, but not before sticking his tongue out an old lady who’d been giving them the stink eye for their shenanigans.

A few stops later, they get off and walk the several blocks to the party. They skirt around the side of the building and down what Blaine would consider a very shady flight of stairs.

“You wah-wah-weren’t kidding about how loud it is,” Blaine yells as they wind their way through a labyrinth of short, weird hallways into a bigger space. 

“Honestly I have no idea how he hasn’t been evicted.” 

Kurt says hello to a few people as they meander through the very crowded basement. He procures them drinks, two each thanks to some kind of Kurt magic, and they move out of the way as a guy leaps into a circle on the dance floor and starts gyrating.

“I call that guy Lord of the Break Dancers,” Kurt says, having to yell almost directly into Blaine’s ear to be heard over the music.

Blaine laughs appreciately and takes a sip of one of his drinks. “Holy shit, what is this?” he asks, holding up the cup.

“It’s a secret!” Kurt says. “But I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of Everclear involved. Just drink it. After two of these it’ll be smooth sailing.”

Blaine likes the sound of that, so he downs both cups quickly. 

“I hope you don’t regret that in the morning,” Kurt says.

Blaine shrugs. “Maybe I should get mmmm-more?”

“Maybe you should wait to see how you feel after those two.”

Kurt chugs his first cup and then sips slowly at the second while Blaine gets himself a beer so he has something in his hand at least.

“So, Blaine Anderson,” Kurt says as he discards one cup and starts on the next. “How do you feel about dancing?”

Blaine leans on one of the basement support poles and bites his lip. “I’m no Lord of the Bah-bah-b-b-b-reak Dancers.”

Kurt shifts so he’s standing in front of Blaine, taking up his whole field of vision. Blaine’s eyelids feel heavy, but not like he’s tired, more like he’s loose and relaxed.

“Was there, like, valium crushed up in those dah-dah-rinks or sssss-something?” Blaine asks.

“Feeling pretty good, huh?” Kurt asks, leaning in and putting his free hand on Blaine’s neck.

“Yeah, pah-pah-pretty good,” Blaine says. Then he opens and closes his mouth a few times. “I can’t feel my teeth.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

“Are they still there?” Blaine asks, opening his mouth wide for Kurt to examine.

“They’re still there and your tongue is an alarming shade of purple.”

“It feels purple,” Blaine says. He chugs the rest of his beer and abandons the cup wanting to put his hands on Kurt, tentatively placing them on Kurt’s waist. Blaine holds eye contact with Kurt for as long as he can, before licking his lips and looking away.

“You’re awfully cute,” Kurt says, dropping his voice into a low growl in Blaine’s ear.

“Nah,” Blaine says, wrapping one his arms around Kurt’s back and pulling him in tighter. “But you, you’re like a, a, a, pah, painting.”

Kurt wedges his knee betweens Blaine’s legs.

“I thought we were going to dance?” Kurt asks.

“I thought we were dancing,” Blaine says, and then laughs. “It’s awesome how when I’m dah-dah-drunk everything I say ssssss-sounds really philosophical.”

“It’s also super hot how your voice sounds right now.”

Kurt pulls back to get a look at Blaine’s face. He’s looking at the floor, smiling a little half smile and shaking his head. He looks up at Kurt, leaning forward and pressing a firm kiss to his lips before grabbing his hand and pulling him onto the dance floor.

Blaine trails his hand along the hem of Kurt’s shirt, dancing his fingers underneath to the beat of music. “That punch is like truth sss-serum.”

Kurt smiles and does a little shoulder shimmy.

“Wa-wah-wah-was that your d-dance of seduction?” Blaine asks, grinning.

“What?”

“That, that, that little shoulder thing.”

“Oh, definitely. Did it work?”

Instead of answering, Blaine pulls Kurt closer and doesn’t let go, wrapping his arms around Kurt’s shoulders and pulling him in for a long, slow kiss that doesn’t match the beat of the music, but is perfect in its own right.

After that, there isn’t as much talking. There are hands and hips and thighs. There’s exploration and long deep breaths and lingering touches. There’s sweat, and smiles, and sighs.

They dance for a few more hours. Rachel and Puck show up eventually but they’re barely a blip on Blaine’s drunken radar. He only has eyes for Kurt. 

Later, when the four of them leave, stumbling back in the direction of subway, Rachel asks Blaine if he had fun.

“I think that b-b-b-basement is mmmm-magical,” he says. “Maybe all bah-basements are magical.”

“I think you’re just really drunk,” Rachel says.

“No,” Kurt says, shaking his head. “Basements _are_ magical.”


	3. Chapter 3

March, 2015 (Kurt is 21, Blaine is 20)

~~~~~

“So,” Blaine says one Saturday morning.

“So,” Matt says.

“What are you, um, dah-doing today?”

Matt squints into the mirror as he tries to figure out what’s wrong with his hair. Maybe he needs a haircut. Maybe he needs to grow it. He can never really tell.

And then he turns to look at Blaine. “Hey, you’re gay.”

“Yes. Yes I am.” Blaine nods and looks at Matt like he’s crazy.

“What do you think I should do about my hair?”

“Have you, you, you ever actually looked at mmmm-my hair?”

Matt walks closer to Blaine and examines his dark curls. “Yeah, it’s nice. It … always looks clean and stuff.” He leans over to sniff. “Smells good.”

Blaine leans away from Matt, still looking at him dubiously. “Thanks.”

Then Matt sits down on his bed across the room, searching for his cell phone which he’s pretty sure got lost between the wall and his bed last night, and forgetting all about his hair issues.

“Anyway, did you want to ask me something?” Matt asks, his voice muffled.

“Yeah, I kind of need your help with something.”

Matt sits back up, cell phone in hand, victorious. “Sure anything.”

Blaine sighs. “I’m s-s-s-supposed to talk to five sah-sah-stah-rangers today.”

“Dude, didn’t your mom ever tell you not to talk to strangers?”

“It’s for group spah-spah-eech therapy.”

“Did you ever tell Kurt about that?”

Blaine opens his mouth and closes it, letting out a groan and shaking his head.

“You should tell him.”

“Yeah, b-b-b-but if I mmm-mess up and drop out, he dah-doesn’t ever even have to know.”

“You should still tell him.”

Blaine’s face lights up. “Buh, b-b-b-b-ut if I don’t tell him, then I-I-I-I can surprise him if my ssssss-pah-eech really improves.”

“You should probably tell him,” Matt says.

“Or I-I-I-I-I could not tell him. Ever.”

“This is getting us nowhere.”

“I’m glad you s-s-s-s-see it mmmm-my way.”

Matt shakes his head. “What do you need help with?”

Blaine sits down next to Matt and shows him the list from his class and then explains the rules. He needs to talk to five strangers today, in all different places and keep track of how well the interaction goes. He should stutter freely if he can, advertising his stutter if he has to.

“And you know how I-I-I-I kind of had a, a, a, shitty week at wah-wah-work, with that complaint or whatever?”

Matt nods.

“I could s-s-s-s-sort of use the sssssss, ss-sah-support.” Blaine’s cheeks are on fire and Matt is all too aware of how much Blaine hates asking for help. Which is why Matt tries so hard to anticipate when Blaine might need a hand.

“Yeah, of course I’ll help you,” Matt says, patting Blaine on the back. “Where do we start?”

“Well, I wah-wah-was thinking I should do tasks where there’s usually a, a, a way to get around talking to puh-puh-people, b-b-b-b-ut I take the easy way out. Like I, I ,I, I always go to the ATM instead of guh, going inside the b-b-bay-bank.”

“To the bank!” Matt says.

They walk over to the nearest branch and Blaine freezes on the way in, pulling on Matt’s arm.

“I dah-don’t know how to, to, to use the bah-bah-bay-bank,” he says, his expression panicked. “My mmmm-mom sssss-et up my account.”

“So tell them that.”

“Buh-uh-ut why do I-I-I-I need to go the teller when I could just, just, just go to the ATM?”

“Because you have an assignment?”

“No, I mean, I mean, I mean, what, like wah-wah-what do I say?’

Matt wracks his brain. “Well. On my birthday my grandma always sends me brand new dollars bills. So like for my twentieth birthday she sent me twenty single dollars.”

“I’m nah-nah-not your grandma.”

“I know, but you could ask for a crisp twenty to send to your little brother or something.”

Blaine makes a face. “I-I-I-I don’t know, that’s like the sssss-same trick I use when ordering coffee and give a, a, a, a dah-different name. I feel like I need to be Bah-bah, Blah,” he stops and cuts off his block. “Why is so hard to say my freaking name?”

Matt shrugs and shakes his head, having no good answer for that.

“I need to be Bah-bah-bah-laine for this to, to, to count, or something.”

“Then just be Blaine.”

They stand in line and when it’s their turn Blaine looks like he might throw up.

“You can do this,” Matt says.

Blaine sucks in a deep breath, squares his shoulders, and approaches the counter. “I, um, I nnn-need to take out forty dah-dollars.”

Matt stands to the side, out of the way and observes his friend doing his absolute damndest just to talk to the man behind the counter. He has a look of such deep concentration on his face that Matt’s pretty sure he’s giving himself a headache.

The bank teller tells Blaine what to do and Blaine follows the instructions, swiping his card and tapping out his PIN. Blaine’s hands shake, making everything a little harder than strictly necessary and Matt would love to jump in and help somehow. But Blaine has this under control. Mostly.

“How would you like that?” the man asks.

“In mmm-money,” Blaine says.

The guy grins. “In what kind of bills?”

“Oh,” Blaine says, breathing out and looking down at the counter. “Uh. Um. Two twenties would be, be, be, be fine.”

Walking out the bank, Blaine looks more nervous than when they were walking in.

“How do people do that?” Blaine asks, as they make their way down the street, onto the next task. “Like all, all, all those puh-puh-people in there, they’re just talking and b-b-b-being normal and acting like that’s not the mmmmm-most nerve wracking thing on the puh-puh-puh-lanet.”

“I mean, obviously you’re not the only person with issues. It’s not easy for all of them, either. It’s just harder for you. Cause life sucks like that.”

“I know, I know, everyone has their own issues.”

“Where to next?” Matt asks.

“I wah-wah-was thinking the campus library. Be, be-be-be-cause I need a bah-bah-bah-book for a paper and usually I-I-I would just look it up myself on a, a, a, computer, completely avoiding any interaction with a human. Buh-buh-ut this time,” Blaine pauses, sucking in a deep breath. “This time I’ll ask at the information d-d-d-d-desk.”

“Let’s go,” Matt says.

After the library, where Blaine gets his book without too much trouble, they head to get something for lunch, where Blaine not only insists on paying, but also ordering for both of them.

“This is going b-b-b-buh-better than I-I-I could have hoped,” Blaine says, as they slide into a booth to wait for their order at the hamburger place.

Matt makes a shocked face. “I thought we weren’t allowed to talk like that? Ever?”

“I know, and we’re not, buh-buh-buh-ut I need to r-r-r-r-remember that this is going well so I can report bah-bah-back on it.” Blaine pulls a folded up piece of paper out of his back pocket and looks it over. “I’m sssss-supposed to writing sssss-tuff down but I-I-I forgot a pen.”

“Seems like a good time to approach a different counter person and ask to borrow a pen,” Matt says.

“Seriously?”

“Of course.”

“Buh-buh-ut they mmmm-might get mmmm-mad at me.”

“But then you’ll only have one more task to complete.”

Blaine stands up and walks over to the side of the counter. Matt can’t hear what he’s saying, but Blaine smiles at the girl behind the counter when he catches her eye and a second later he has a pen.

“Why is is is is everything ssss-so hard all the time?” he huffs as he sits back down.

“That really didn’t seem that hard.”

“Buh-buh-ut like, she looked at mmmm-me and I had to sssssss-mile and say words. I-I-I-I hate when p-p-p-people look at me.”

Matt rolls his eyes. “I’m looking at you right now.”

“I know, buh-buh-ut you’re not judging mmm-me.”

“She wasn’t judging you either!” Matt insists.

“I felt judged.”

Their food arrives and Blaine eats and ticks of bullets on his list while also making notes about how everything is going.

“You’re doing an awesome job,” Matt says, reading it over upside down.

“Nah. I’m d-d-d-doing okay, not good. I mmm-messed up, especially when I ordered lunch.”

“You’re too hard on yourself.”

“I have to be hard on myself. You’re too easy on me. And Kurt’s too easy on me. And Chad’s too easy on me. He’s always saying that as long as I try that’s good enough. Somebody’s gotta be hard on me.”

  
“That’s what she said,” Matt mumbles around a bite of his burger.

Blaine through the straw wrapper at him.

“You try a lot,” Matt notes.

“Buh-buh-ut trying isn’t always enough. I-I-I-I have to like, do sssss-something, sometimes,” Blaine says, glancing at Matt for a second before looking away and concentrating on dragging a french fry through his puddle of ketchup.

Matt’s not sure what to say to that, but Blaine fills the silence.

“Also, I really mmmm-miss Kurt.”

“Of course you do.”

“And s-s-s-sah-ometimes I-I-I-I-I forget to mmm-miss him, like all dah-dah-day today and then I feel b-b-b-bad.”

“Well, that’s just ridiculous.”

“I know.” Blaine shrugs. “It helps to ssss-say it outloud.”

“Yeah,” Matt says.

Blaine crumples up his garbage. “All right, I guess w-w-w-we should get out of here.”

“You still have one more thing to do, what do you think it should be?”

“I-I-I-I don’t know. I want to sssss-say something easy, buh-buh-ut I should probably give mmm-myself one last challenge be, be, be, b-b-before calling it a d-d-day.”

“How about I give you a challenge?”

“Sounds sah-sah-sss-cary.”

“Trust me.”

And that’s how Blaine ends up standing outside of Penn Station offering directions to confused looking tourists for the next hour. Because as soon as he helped one person, there seemed to be another one lurking nearby.


	4. Chapter 4

October, 2016- Kurt is 23, Blaine is 22

~~~~~

Kurt: Hey  
  what are you up to?  
Blaine: Killing time at the coffee shop before speech therapy  
  Chad had to move my appointment to 6  
Kurt: He’s really burning the midnight oil huh?  
Blaine: what are you up to?  
Kurt: Also burning the midnight oil.  
  I have to stay at the office and wait for a delivery  
  Which might not come until seven or eight  
Blaine: Sucks  
Kurt: When was the last time you were at your apartment?  
Blaine: This morning.  
  When was the last time YOU were at YOUR apartment?  
Kurt: Also this morning.  
Blaine: Hmm.  
Kurt: I know. It’s a good thing you sent flowers to me at the office rather than my residence.  
Blaine: I am very smart  
Kurt: I’m less smart.  
  There will be wilting flowers waiting at your front door for you.  
Blaine: Nah.  
  Matt brought them in hours ago and even sent me a picture.  
  they’re lovely.  
Kurt: Matt! Yes.  
  he’s a good boy.  
Blaine: He is.  
Kurt: Did he read the card on your behalf?  
Blaine: He didn’t.  
Kurt: I appreciate that  
Blaine: Or at least he claims he didn’t  
  Why is there dirty stuff in there?  
Kurt: more like a whole lot of begging for your forgiveness.  
Blaine: No way, we can’t both be begging for forgiveness  
Kurt: You shouldn’t be begging for forgiveness  
  or sending me flowers!  
  I called you a whiny bitch last night!  
Blaine: Only because I was *being* a whiny bitch.  
  I appreciated your candor  
  and I’m really sorry to have even put you in a position  
  where you would ever want to call me a whiny bitch  
Kurt: no no no  
  this is all wrong.  
Blaine: yes yes yes  
Kurt: can we both just forgive each other simultaneously?  
  is that a thing?  
Blaine: I think that’s a thing.  
  ONE TWO THREE  
Kurt: I FORGIVE YOU  
Blaine: I FORGIVE YOU  
Kurt: I FORGIVE YOU MORE  
Blaine: WELL I FIVEGIVE YOU  
  MAYBE EVEN SIXGIVE YOU  
Kurt: Stop it, you’re so cute I can’t stand you  
Blaine: Well, you know what they say. I *am* winsome  
Kurt: So you’re in a better mood today, I take it?  
Blaine: I am. I feel so bad about last night  
  I didn’t mean to go to the dark place  
Kurt: I didn’t mean to yell at you  
Blaine: Honestly? That’s why I love you.  
  I kind of need you to yell at me.  
  I don’t want to feel like this or have to deal with this shit  
  But when you yell at me it reminds me that it’s worth it.  
Kurt: I’m not sure I understand  
  but, you’re welcome?  
Blaine: Like this whole backslide has sucked BIG TIME  
  But because you’re here to yell at me, I can remember why I don’t want to just …  
  Let myself stay this way  
  I don’t want to have issues like this cropping up all the time  
  It’s worth the extra speech therapy and going back to group  
  Just so I can get back to where I was a couple months ago  
  And like, you’re not the only person who helps with that usually  
  But I’m so embarrassed this time.  
  I should have seen this coming.  
Kurt: It’s the first time this has happened though  
  and it’s that bitch Claudine’s fault anyway  
Blaine: Yeah, that bitch.  
  It’s hard for me to call her that because she’s just a kid  
  and I need to take responsibility for my own issues  
Kurt: Fine I’ll call her a bitch you can call her whatever you want.  
Blaine: Sounds like a plan.

~~~~~

Hours later, Kurt is leaving work for the day and finds Blaine outsides the building.

“Hey,” Kurt says, taking a seat on the bench next to Blaine. “I’m surprised to see you.”

Blaine shrugs and gives Kurt a kiss on the cheek.

“You could have called up. You didn’t have to wait for me out here.”

“You’re always wah-way-waiting for mmmm-me.” Blaine glances over. “Where are your flowers?”

“I left them on my desk so everyone would be jealous of me,” Kurt says with a smile.

“I’m, I’m, I’m glad you like them.”

Kurt examines Blaine’s face in the dim light. “Are you okay?”

Blaine nods. “I think, I think, I think.” He pauses and chews his lip, shaking his head.

Kurt fights the little voice that wants to tell Blaine to slow down, to take his time, that they’re in no rush. It took Kurt so long to understand how unhelpful all those phrases were. But now that they’re sitting here, it’s so hard for Kurt not to spit out a list of every last cliched bit of advice a person who stutters would never want to hear.

Instead, he takes Blaine’s hand and squeezes.

“I-I-I-I know I’m gonna b-b-be fine,” Blaine says, squeezing back. “Are you okay?”

“Of course, I’m with you.”

“Oh, you, you, you are sssss-so cheesy,” Blaine says, rolling his eyes and standing up, pulling Kurt along with him.

“You love it.”

“I do.” Blaine grins. “Are you hungry?”

“Definitely.” Kurt nods emphatically and they make a quick decision to just head to their favorite Thai place. “How was speech?”

Blaine stops in the middle of the sidewalk, turning to grin at Kurt, and the person behind them slams into him.

“Oh, oops, s-s-sah-s-sorry,” he says.

The woman huffs out a breath and glares at him like running into Blaine was the worst thing that ever happened to her and Blaine looks forlorn as she walks away.

“I hate people,” Kurt says, watching her go.

“I just wah-wah-wanted my ssssss-pah-peech therapy hug,” he says with a frown.

“No one understands just how important the speech therapy hug is. I mean really. Everyone needs to calm down,” Kurt says.

He pulls Blaine into a vice like hug there in the middle of the sidewalk, making several other people have to walk around them. But Kurt doesn’t care. Blaine needs a hug more than those assholes need to walk in a straight line. Even if normally he would be the first person to be annoyed by people hugging in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Thanks,” Blaine says pulling away. “I think, I think, I think, I r-r-r-r-really needed that.”

Kurt nods and they continue on.

“So, it’s okay,” Blaine says after they walk another block.

“Just okay?”

“I-I-I-I hate that I’m there, I-I-I-I-I hate that I let, that I let, I let this happen, I hate how angry I-I-I-I-I am.”

Kurt nods.

“I rrrrrrr-really hate how long it takes mmmmmm-me to, to, to talk.”

“I know.”

“Buh, b-b-b-but I’ll get there.”

Kurt opens the door to restaurant for Blaine. “I know that too.”


	5. Chapter 5

July, 2022 (Kurt and Blaine are both 28)

~~~~~

It takes some time for it to really sink that Blaine will be gone for the next six weeks. Kurt’s busy enough that the first few nights he’s away go by nearly unnoticed. He and Blaine don’t go to bed together every single night, nor do they wake up at the same time every morning. They tend to run on different schedules so it’s not rare for Kurt to have odd moments to himself over the course of the day.

Work has been difficult recently, the tasks demanding, the hours grueling, and his co-workers are spotty at best, on both personal and professional levels.

So when Friday afternoon rolls around and their boss okays all of the layouts and all of the deadlines have been met and everyone else decides to go out for drinks, Kurt begs off with a vague lie about plans.

Because at some point during the day, it hit him- he has a whole evening to himself.

He’ll have a whole lot of evenings alone all summer, but that’s not necessarily what he thinks about on this July night. He’s more focused on some alone time.

The first thing he does when he walks into the apartment is crank up the air conditioning. While Blaine has nothing against air conditioning, he always seems to keep it at a higher temperature than Kurt thinks is strictly necessary. 

After that Kurt takes the longest, hottest shower he can muster. It feels absolutely luxurious not to have to worry that the hot water will run out before Blaine gets his turn.

Then it’s time to watch all of the trashy TV he’s been accumulating on the DVR while he waits for the stinkiest curry he could think of to arrive on his doorstep. Blaine is not a fan of any housewife in any city and this Kurt’s moment to watch them all. He considers keeping notes on who he loves and hates the most. He could run a whole study about the Real Housewives during the time Blaine will be working at sleepaway camp.

Life is good, Kurt thinks, taking a sip of the wine he has all to himself. He lounges and he drinks and he yells at the women on TV making terrible choices.

And, while he would never admit this to anyone, he does not miss Blaine for even one second that entire evening. Definitely not when he falls asleep, starfish style, in the middle of their bed. His only thought being “Poor Blaine has to sleep on a terrible, musty twin mattress at stuttering kid camp and I have this glorious pillow top queen all to myself.”

The next morning, he does miss Blaine. He failed to turn the air conditioning down before going to bed and wakes up achy and stiff from trying to huddle under the covers for warmth. Blaine would have either kept him warm or been smart enough to change the temperature before bed. Not Kurt’s finest moment.

It takes three cups of coffee and another long shower to finally unknot all of his muscles. Worse yet, there’s hair in the drain which means Blaine isn’t the only one in their household who is shedding. Kurt groans as he bends over to clean it out, his back muscles protesting the movement.

He checks the weather while he tries to find something appetizing for breakfast. It’s supposed to be hot, maybe even the hottest day of the summer so far and he has no idea what to do with himself. It’s been a long time since he’s had a weekend day all to himself- no work, no Blaine, no commitments.

While he tries to decide what to do with his day, he cleans. He dusts, he sweeps, he mops, he delimes the grout in the bathroom. He changes his drawers around, rearranging for optimized organization, and then does the same to Blaine’s. 

He waxes the woodwork and scrubs at an old stain on the counter in the kitchen and scours the stove for every last remnant of grease.

Then he changes Blaine’s drawers back because he doesn’t want to be that kind of husband. 

He goes through the closet and finds a dirty shirt of Blaine’s on the floor. 

“It’s a good thing you’re not home to get yelled at,” he says to the shirt. It’s then he realizes he hasn’t talked out loud all day and decides to go out into the world, at least for a walk. It’s just as hot out as the weatherman warned, but it’s a good excuse to get some fro-yo. 

The weekend goes by. Kurt reads a book and goes grocery shopping. He entertains himself easily and feels refreshed heading back to work on Monday morning.

But little moments where he truly misses Blaine start cropping up more and more frequently, particularly since cell service at the camp is terrible and they’ve only spoken once since Blaine left.

Because even though it was annoying that Blaine was always around during the summer, making Kurt wish more than once he’d gone into teaching, Blaine was always around. He would drop anything he was doing to entertain Kurt or to hang out or to cook something wonderful for dinner. Kurt misses eating wonderful dinners. 

The next weekend is such a drag that he ends up calling Rachel and Puck and having dinner with them just to have something to do. And that’s saying something because he’s been in the midst of one of his “can’t stand Rachel” cycles for the past six months.

One night after work he found himself out for drinks with his most annoying coworker because the prospect of going home to his empty apartment was completely undesirable.

He spent one whole evening cutting a magazine into strips and creating a paper chain to countdown the days until he could go pick Blaine up at camp. He thought that was pretty sad, but it was a few days later when he truly hit rock bottom and started sleeping with Blaine’s dirty t-shirt.

And once he allowed himself that one thing, everything just got worse. He started picking up the weird little bad habits of Blaine’s that usually detested but currently really missed. He left the cap off the toothpaste and didn’t fully close the cabinets in the kitchen. He rearranged the chairs at the kitchen table the way Blaine did and starting using his hair product, just so it would feel like Blaine was present.

Luckily, the paper chain dwindled and the day finally came that there was only one piece left. Kurt decided to wear it as a bracelet on his drive to North Carolina, for the sake of being quirky. 

He barely slept a wink in anticipation of seeing Blaine and he was up and ready to go by four in the morning, driving out of the city in their new old car to start his long journey while a lot of other people were just calling it a night.

During the twelve hour drive he listened to all of Blaine’s favorite songs and had to pinch himself several times because he was starting to believe that actually seeing Blaine was just a dream. A really, really amazing dream.

Kurt pulled up the long driveway to the camp. All the campers had left the day before and it was just counselors and staff left wrapping up the season. 

When Kurt pulled up in front of the main building just as Blaine had instructed and parked in a dirt parking lot. He got out of the car and took a deep breath, looking around. He understood while Blaine liked it here, but it definitely wasn’t his kind of place. A mosquito tried to attack him within thirty seconds of getting out of the car and while he was trying to fend off the bug, Blaine came barreling out the cabin door and down the steps.

“Dum Dum!” he yelled.

Kurt spun in the spot, all worries about mosquito bites to his face forgotten. Before he could even get a greeting out of his mouth, Blaine lifted him off his feet and spun him around.

After they embraced and kissed for what might be considered an inappropriate amount of time while on the property of a children’s sleep away camp, Blaine pulled back and smiled. Kurt thought he looked incredible, tanned and happy and relaxed.

“God, you look so good,” Blaine said, pulling Kurt close again and kissing him along his jaw.

“I look like I just spent the past twelve hours in a car,” Kurt protested. “You look fantastic, like a guy from an LL Bean catalog.”

“No, you look, like, s-s-so good, like I want to eat you.”

“They weren’t feeding you?” Kurt asked, dusting invisible dirt off Blaine’s shoulders. “You do look a little thin.”

“I know you mmm-missed me, you can’t pretend with this nonchalant crap. You told me about the altar you b-b-b-built using my t-shirt.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t an altar, per say. It was mostly just me sleeping with your t-shirt. Though I did take your advice and put it on a pillow for a more life like effect.”

Blaine laughs. He doesn’t seem to want to let go of Kurt, touching him constantly, not that Kurt minds in the least. 

“I missed you,” Blaine says seriously.

“I missed you too,” Kurt says. He feels like he might start crying any second which is just so ridiculous because he made it through the whole six weeks without shedding a tear, but now that Blaine is here in front of him, it’s almost all too much.

“I know.”

“I missed you so much I made a paper chain out of an old People Magazine and used it to countdown the days until I got to see you.” Kurt buries his face in Blaine’s shoulder to hide his face, which he knows much be bright red.

Blaine’s jaw drops. “That’s some s-s-serious missing.”

“I know,” Kurt says, throwing up his hands and covering his face in shame. “I’m currently wearing the last of the chain as a bracelet.”

“Did you mmm-make me one?”

Kurt frowns. “No. I should have.”

“I love that you mmm, mmm-missed me that much,” Blaine says, pulling him close.

“Good,” Kurt says, smiling.

“Now, let’s go suh-say goodbye to everyone here and then get to, get to, get to the hotel for the night.”

“And get reacquainted?”

“You know it,” Blaine says. He takes Kurt’s hand and they walk off together.


	6. Chapter 6

Kurt is 32, Blaine is 32, and Addie is 13 months

~~~~~

“Oh God no,” Blaine says out loud when he hears Kurt sneeze four times in a row.

Blaine’s sitting at the kitchen table with Addie in her highchair trying to convince her that she’s more interested in her mashed banana than in Blaine’s coffee. She doesn’t believe him.

Kurt starts in on a lengthy coughing fit.

Blaine looks over at Addie, her blue eyes focusing on his.

“If your father is sah-sick, I’m not sure how I’m going to dah-dah-deal with taking care of b-b-b-both of you,” he says.

She blinks her response. Blaine wonders if he could teach her to blink in Morse Code while Kurt’s coughing fit continues. The coughing sounds like it’s getting closer.

“I’m wah-warning you now, little girl,” Blaine whispers, not wanting the wrath of Sick Kurt to befall him if he hears. “This is, is, is not going to end well.”

“Morning,” Kurt croaks, stumbling into the kitchen. He kisses the top of Addie’s head and squeezes Blaine’s shoulder before walking over the fridge.

“Morning,” Blaine says. 

Kurt coughs again and Blaine tries to physically shield the baby from the germs that Kurt seems completely oblivious to.

“Why don’t you go b-b-back to buh-bed and I’ll bah-ring you sss-some toast and tea?” Blaine asks. 

Kurt narrows his eyes at him. “Why would you do that?”

Now if Kurt was anyone else on earth, Blaine would say something along the lines of “because you’re sick and I love to take care of you.” But with Kurt, and Sick Kurt particularly, he had to treat lightly.

“I-I-I-I can tell you’re exhausted,” Blaine says. “And Addie and I are happy to help.”

“Eeeeee!” Addie says.

Blaine gestures at her. “See, she agrees.”

Kurt still looks suspicious and then he sniffles. He lifts his chin. “I am a bit tired. Maybe I’ll shower.”

“Sounds good, and then I’ll bah-bah-ring you tea and toast. Would you like anything else?”

“Orange juice.”

“Sure thing.”

Kurt backs out of the kitchen, keeping an eye on Blaine before turning and heading into the bathroom.

“I’m going to need you to be, to be, to be very good today,” Blaine tells Addie.

She spits mashed banana onto the tray of her high chair and makes a face. 

“I will b-b-b-b-buy you a car if you just be, be, behave.”

She picks up the mashed banana and puts it in her hair.

Blaine nods. “I thought that’s what you might sss-say.”

After he quickly cleans Addie up, he deposits her in her baby play yard and then sets to work on Kurt’s tea and toast.

And orange juice.

Heaven forbid he forget the orange juice.

He keeps the toast light, just with butter even though he’s pretty sure Kurt would want jelly and cream cheese. And the tea gets honey and lemon, no matter how much Kurt will object and request milk.

Blaine hears Kurt make his way from the bathroom into the bedroom.

He takes a deep breath, puts Kurt’s breakfast on a tray, along with a box of tissues, and marches it into their bedroom.

“Hey, dum dum.”

“I’m not sick.”

“I didn’t s-sah-say you were.”

“But you’re treating me like I am.”

“No, I’m treating you like you’ve had a, a, a tough week, and it’s Saturday, and I love you.”

Kurt sneezes. “It’s just allergies.”

“I know,” Blaine says.

Kurt sits down on the bed and Blaine places the tray on his lap. He tosses the box of tissues over the side of the bed and then surveys the tray.

“Oh, I would have preferred cream cheese and jelly,” Kurt says with more than hint of a whine to his voice.

“Well, with your allergies acting up, I wah-wah-would hate for you to get phlegmy.” Blaine leans over and kisses Kurt’s forehead.

“You can’t trick me by checking for a fever that way,” Kurt says primly.

“Just giving mmm-my fella a kiss.” His fella who definitely has a low grade fever, Blaine adds silently.

“Why don’t you sit here on the bed and chat while I eat?” Kurt says, patting the comforter next to him.

“Be, be, because our 13 month old is alone in the living room and I’ve already sah-pent too much time in here. She could be getting into all sorts of things.”

“Didn’t you put her in the baby kennel?”

“It’s not a b-b-b-bay-baby kennel,” Blaine says from the door, peeking down the hall into the living room and noting with relief that nothing seems to be on fire.

“You could bring her in here.”

“I know, dum dum, but we don’t want you to sah-neeze on her or anything. And then she gets a, a, a cold and bah-rings that to d-d-d-day care and the cycle of germs just keeps going.”

“Allergy sneezes don’t have germs.”

“I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate.”

“Hmph.”

This time it’s Blaine who backs out of the room without taking his eyes off of Kurt. 

Addie’s sitting in the middle of the play yard with her fist stuffed in her mouth.

“That’s r-r-r-really impressive,” he says.

She yanks her hand out of her mouth and giggles. 

“You wah-wanna go for a walk?” Blaine asks her in a silly voice.

“Stop talking to our child like she’s a puppy!” Kurt yells from the bedroom.

“We’re going for a walk!” Blaine yells back. “I might even b-b-b-buy one of those leashes they have for kids. With the b-b-backpack harness thing.”

“She is not a dog!”

“You’re sick as a dog,” Blaine mumbles even though it doesn’t make sense.

“I heard that!”

“No you didn’t!” Blaine says as he puts Addie’s coat on. 

Kurt pads into the living room as Blaine’s getting out the stroller.

“Hello little girl,” Kurt says to Addie, lifting her from her spot on the floor. “Don’t listen to that mean old man when he talks to you like a puppy.”

“Kurt,” Blaine says, pulling the baby away from him. “Listen to yourself. You’re so sah-sah-tuffed up that all practically sounded like gibberish. Go take ssss-some cold medicine, get bah-bah-back into buh-bed, and I’ll be home to take care of you after Addie and I go p-p-pick up the dry cleaning.”

“I’m fine,” Kurt protests. “I feel great.”

“That was buh-barely English.”

Addie looks back and forth from her perch on Blaine’s hip at each of her father’s in turn as they argue.

Kurt sticks his tongue out and crosses his arms.

“You need anything while wah-we’re out?”

“A new husband who doesn’t think I’m sick.”

Blaine rolls his eyes, giving Kurt a quick kiss on the cheek. He takes Addie and the stroller down the stairs, muttering under his breath. 

“If he wah-wasn’t ssss-sick he would have offered to help us get outside. He would have wah-wah-wanted to come with us. Not sick, mmm-my ass.”

“I heard that!” Kurt’s voice booms down the stairwell. “And our baby heard you swear!”

“Get bah-back inside and go to buh-buh-bed!” Blaine yells back.

When Blaine and Addie get back an hour later with dry cleaning and all of Sick Kurt’s favorite foods, Blaine drags everything up the stairs.

“Kurt,” he calls out, quietly in hopes that Kurt is napping. 

And he is napping, just not in bed. In this case, Kurt is asleep on the kitchen floor, leaning against one of the lower cabinets with a wok in his lap.

Blaine puts Addie in the “baby kennel” and then wakes Kurt up.

“Hey, dum dum,” he says quietly, shaking Kurt’s shoulder gently.

“I’m baby proofing the bottom shelves,” Kurt says groggily.

“And you are dah-dah-doing a fantastic job,” Blaine says, even though they had baby proofed the bottom shelves months ago when Addie learned to crawl.

“I put all the pots in this one and then I moved all the cleaners inside of them.” Kurt gestures lazily.

“Oh dear lord,” Blaine says under his breath, looking at the cleaners leaking all over their pots and pans. “Come on Kurt, I’ll finish up in here and, and, and you can head back to bed.”

“‘Kay,” Kurt says, putting his hands up for Blaine to help him stand. “But I’m not sick.”

“Nope, you’re definitely not sah-sick,” Blaine agrees. 

Blaine deposits Kurt in their bed, tucks the blankets up to his chin, and gives him another kiss on the forehead, happy to find that Kurt’s fever broke.


	7. Chapter 7

Spring, 2031 (Blaine and Kurt are 37, Addie is 6, Declan is 4)

It all starts innocently enough.

Carole gave Declan a book about ocean animals along with how to say their names in ASL for his fourth birthday. Declan was delighted by the sign for octopus immediately. Kurt showed Declan the sign and Declan repeated it over and over for several days.

Blaine didn’t notice until a week had already gone by.

“What, what, what is that?” he asks Kurt as Declan runs his hand back and forth along the table during breakfast one morning. “Did you teach him that?”

“Um. Well.”

“Is that a b-b-b-bug? Why don’t I-I-I don’t know that sign?” He catch Declan’s attention and tries to mimic the sign. Declan arranges his hands properly and shows him again. Blaine smiles so wide that Kurt hates to be the bearer of bad news. 

Kurt takes a deep breath. “It’s from his under the sea book that Carole gave him.”

“Is it crab?” Blaine asks. 

Kurt purses his lips but knows that he couldn’t keep Blaine in the dark. “It’s the sign for octopus.”

“No,” Blaine says, stilling his hands. 

“Yes.”

Blaine takes a deep breath and stills his hands in his lap. “I feel dah-dirty.”

“It’s just a sign! It’s not like he owns an actual octopus and is asking us to keep it in the bathtub for him.”

Blaine’s jaw drops. “How dah-dare you sssss-say such a thing? Now I’m never going to be, to be, to be able to take a nice relaxing buh-buh-bath again.”

Kurt sits back in his seat and shakes his head. Then Kurt makes his own, very adult, sign and Blaine blushes.

“Stop trying to d-d-distract me with sexy times,” Blaine says. 

The octopus issue would have ended right there. Declan liked the octopus sign, but he didn’t have a strong concept of what an octopus even was. And it wasn’t like Kurt was going to freak Blaine out by showing their son videos of the animal or anything. Except for the fact that Declan’s class was going on a class trip to the aquarium several months later and Declan immediately recognized the creature from his book. 

And Kurt just happens to be chaperoning said trip.

And definitely buys Declan a stuffed octopus when he begs for it in the gift shop. Declan rarely begged for anything. Who is Kurt to say no?

When Blaine gets home from work later, Declan is on the couch with Addie and his new stuffed octopus, who Kurt had already started calling Octavius. He’s hoping to get Addie on board with the name in no time. Declan is “reading” the book to Addie and helping her with her signs. The best part is that Addie was actually letting him. 

Blaine came into the kitchen, smiling, and drops his bag on the kitchen table and kisses Kurt on the cheek. “Smells good,” Blaine says.

“Me or the food?”

“I’ll go with bah-both.”

“Should be ready soon,” Kurt says, stirring the chili. 

“What are the kids up to?”

KUrt turns to face Blaine. “They’re reading Declan’s under the sea book.”

“Aw.” He peeks through the kitchen door into the family room.

“Before you go in there, I need to warn you,” Kurt says.

“What? What happened? Was it sssss-something on the field trip? Why d-d-d-didn’t you call me?”

“Would you stop? I’m being silly. I bought Declan an octopus toy. He literally begged for it. I didn’t even know he could do that. How could I say no?”

Blaine frowns.

“At least I didn’t buy him an octopus hat, because that was another option. That thing even freaked me out.”

“He really wah-wanted it?” Blaine asks.

“Yes.”

“Then who am I to deny him his pah-pah-passion?” Blaine says with a grin.

“You’re a good dad, have I ever told you that?”

“Buh-buh-ack at you,” Blaine says. He walks over to Kurt and gives him a hug at the moment Addie and Declan come clamoring into the kitchen. They excitedly show Blaine Declan’s new stuffed animal and Addie whines that she wants one too.

“An octopus?” Blaine asks, trying not to outwardly cringe as he makes the sign for it.

“Yes!” she shrieks.

“I promise next time we’re somewhere with stuffed animals, you can pick one out,” Kurt says from the stove.

Addie shrieks again and then Declan starts chasing her around with his octopus in hand and Blaine excuses himself, just to get away from that … thing for a few minutes to change.

But just like anything else with the kids, Declan’s passion does wane a bit as time goes on. He doesn’t want every octopus he sees, though Blaine does still find him playing with Octavius from time to time over the next few months, much to his own chagrin. 

The culmination of Declan’s love for those eight legged creatures isn’t until months later when Kurt and Blaine take the kids to the aquarium on Coney Island for Declan’s fifth birthday. He’s only had his implant activated for a few months and while he’s mimicking the sounds he can hear, and doing well in speech therapy, he still isn’t much of a talker. Maybe he never will be.

But he’s definitely engaged. In everything. He walks the halls of the aquarium in wonder, looking at everything and taking in every detail. He signs a lot and Kurt or Blaine will tell say the name of the animal, enunciating as best they can even though the acoustics in the aquarium aren’t the best. Declan watches their mouths but says very little throughout the trip. Addie of course makes up for her brothers reticence, hanging onto Blaine’s hand and pulling him in whatever direction she wants to go.

“Addie you need to calm down,” Blaine says, not paying attention to what room they’re following Kurt and Declan into. “You gotta remember this is Declan’s birthday and he deserves to take his time and look at everything he wants to see no matter how impatient you get.”

While he was giving Addie this mild reprimand they had walked into the octopus area and Blaine immediately dropped Addie’s hand and took a step back.

“Daddy?” she asks, skipping over whatever she was about to say when she saw Blaine’s face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says, trying not to make eye contact with the beast behind the glass. He inches towards Kurt and pulls Addie with him. “You could have warned me this is where we were headed,” Blaine whispers to him.

“I didn’t realize it was next,” Kurt mutters.

Declan stands by the glass, staring at it with all of his attention. He’s slack jawed and making the sign for octopus over and over again with his hands. Addie moves to stand next to him and it takes all of Blaine’s self control not to try to save both of them from it.

“Octopus,” Addie says.

Declan looks up at Addie with a toothy grin. “Octopus,” he repeats flawlessly. “Octopus. Octopus.”

He runs over to his fathers. “Octopus, octopus, octopus!” he says pointing at the glass. 

Blaine nods. “Of course,” he mumbles. “Of course it would be his favorite word.”

Kurt gives his husband a quick squeeze around his shoulders and then kneels down to talk to Declan about the octopus while Blaine tries to keep his composure.

And to add insult to injury, both kids want octopus t-shirts in the gift shop. Luckily Blaine is just as much of a softie as Kurt is.


End file.
